Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1887-01-26
CANVAS BACK AND TgRRApM.
Delicacsen That Flourish Nowhere So Wen
as In Baltimore.
$500. -. ...- --N

Especial correspondence
BALTIMORE, Jan. lit was the genial
autocrat, DIR. Oliver Wendell Holmes, who
called Baltimore the gastronomic capital of
the universe. 1t was he who suggested that
the lady be taken from the Battle monument
and diamond back terrapin put in her place,
and that a canvns back luck be stationed on
the Washington column. The other day
Editor Charles A. Dana, who is as great an
epicure as he is a journalist, came ever here
from New York with a party of friends.
"What has brought you here?n was asked
him.
"a anvas back duck. We came TO carve
the wings and the breast of a canvas back.
We adore your beautiful ladies, bow to your
artists, admire your history, your public
men, reverence your editors, but your canvas
back duck is beyond praise and comparison.
Next to your canvas back comes your Madeira.
I have tasted it before, and it goes well with
the duck.n
The fame OF the canvas back is cosmopoli-
tan, but Nowhere can it be found cooked as
we'll as In Baltimore. THIS city, however, is
more the market OF the canvas back than any
thing else. The great feeding ground Of the
duck is on the flats in and around the mouth
Of. the Susquehanna river, and the central
tOWu VI Vic uuCA SuOOIGTS IL 11aFT6 u6 oTHCe,
q lively little place, which the Jesuits settled
and which Lafayette named. The ducks come
from Hudson's bay and the far northern lakes.
They follow the edge of winter along the
Atlantic coast, leaving a few %straggfers in
the Hudson and Delaware rivers, and arriving
in great fiocks ut the head of the Chesapeake.
What especially attracts them is the luxurious
growth OF vRlisneria, a juicy water cress.
which grows III submerged fields in all the
muddy flats, shallow bays and estuaries in
the neighborhood of the Susquehanna. This
the ducks tear up, and feed ravenously upon
the tender roots. Nowhere else does the grass
grow so plentifully. On other food the ducks
have a wild. f1shy taste: on this they have
that succulence which deties competition or
description. They arrive on the grounds
poor, but in a short time they become fat.
There are several dozen kinds of ducks found in
the bay, but the canvas back is easily king Of
them all. Its full grown weight is three
pounds. 1t is solidly put together and a
graceful flyer. Tie greatest flights take place
in the morning before sunrise, and that is the
time the gunner does his most effective work.
Duck shooting is regulated by stringent laws.
to enforce which there are special police
maintained by the state. Over 81, 600 are
paid annually by gunners for licenses, and
SAS - - AAaAAA w AASAA \ " Si-
gagged in the business Of shooting. President
Cleveland gets his ducks direct from Havre
de Grace and shipments are made every
week to Europe, where there is q growing
fondness for the princely bird. Amateur
duck shooting is expensive. 1t costs all the
way from $40 to $50 per canvasb back for an
amateur to enjoy himself in this way, and
then he does not always get the ducks. This
year the ducks have been very scarce, and.
prices have ranged from 81 to $40 a pair.
During christmas week the latter price could
not bring the supply up to the demand.
Most of the ducks are broughtto Baltimore
and the game dealers here, after supplying the
active home market, ship them all over the
country and to England, 1t is a very COM
mon sight to see professional hunters in the
business part of the city tying to dispose of
their stock, and they always succeed without
much trouble. Cooking a canvas back prop
eriy is the very acme OF gastronomic science.
1t should be cooked about twenty minutes.
never under sixteen and never over thirty.
1t must be served very hot, and the blood
should flow freely when a knife is placed at
the breast. A canvas back overdone, or cold
or half cold. is ruined. The red head is very
like the canvas back and very often is passed
Off for 1t, but 1t Is Inferior in every way. The
sSSo WY w htoa VALE w II - Y tu6lI
bills. The bill of the canvas back is blush
black; the red heads bill is of a scarlet hue.
Many thousands Of dollars are spent annually
by the rich sportsmen of Baltimore, Philadel-
tphia and New York in maintaining ducking
shores. President Cieveland's first out of
spwn visit after his entrance to the White
House was to one of these shores.
Tbs diamond back terrapin is not a hand
some creature; but what 1t lacks In beauty It
raakes up in worth. 1t is packed full of gas
tronomic goodness. Tefrapin this year are as
plentiful as the canvas hack ducks are scarce,
They feed on the same grass as the canvas
backs, and that accounts for the unapproach-
able excellence of their flesh. A million
and a half dollars worth of them are
taken out Of the Chesapeake every
year, and they are sent all over this country
and to Europe. 4Maryland terrapin" is a
dish that figures ON tho menu card of every.
great dipner or banquet. And yet the terra.
pins popularity Is very recent. Old records
show that the slaves of this state used to re.
bel because they We're given terrapin instead
Eof pork. Forty years ago John M. Clayton,
OF Delaware. who was secretary of state in
President Taylor's cabinet. bought them In
quantities, paying 81 for an OK cart load,
which he would have dumped into his cellar
IaA q All Va SDSh anu hiIh IN ZuScu as Dl9
exigencies, OF the table required. A half CEN
tury ago the best terrapin sold in the Annap-
oils marke FOR l2R9 cents each. Thirty years
ago theysoldi in Baltimore for IS a dozen. Now
they are worth from $50 to SIS a dozen, and
they go all over the world. President Cleve-
land gets terrapin from Baltimore. So does
Mr.. McIlane, United States minister to
France. So do the rich English entertainers.
The season proper extends from about the
middle of November to the LIST Of April.
About 500 men are engaged in raising and
catching them, and GOO, 6GJ terrapin annually
are made sacrifices to man,s appetite. Ter
rapin farming has become q considerable in
dustry that will grow to much larger pro
portions in time. The first farm was started
In Somerset county by the late United States
Senator Dennis, who began the enterprise for
his personal accommodation. There are sew
eral farms In Calvert county. The largest
one consists of a salt water lake, many acres
b extent and large enough to accommodate
sist of boxes partly filed with sand, and are
50 range that when the females enter they
cannot get out until taken out. The young
terrapin are kept in the nursery for ten
months or a year, because the old masculine
terrapiri are said to have the bad habit OF
eating the tender young members of their
tribe. One of the ~terrapin's great traits is
his curiosity, and this enables the terrapin to
be trained SO that they respond when called
at feeding. time. Mr.. Edward II. Strong, of
Kent county, recently made a very interest
spv n-xart-1a~A ~~,sxIxL 49,. ~ 81 -